Cybersecurity bill displeases Republicans

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and bipartisan co-sponsors have introduced a bill that would clarify the Homeland Security Department’s authority for overseeing the security of privately owned critical infrastructure and reform the Federal Information Security Management Act.

The bill emerged as a compromise measure, dropping several provisions that Republican lawmakers had previously opposed, but it still doesn't pass GOP muster, according to Republican members of several Senate committees with jurisdiction over cybersecurity issues, according to a report in Government Computer News.

The senators in a Feb. 14 letter to Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said they agreed on the need for improved cybersecurity but added “we have yet to find broad bipartisan agreement on the most effective legislative solution.”

They complained that the bill “does not satisfy our substantive concerns, nor does it satisfy our process concerns,” and said it is imperative that other committees have a hand in shaping it. “The relevant committees have not had the opportunity to weigh in on this measure even though it cuts across committee jurisdiction.”